Ep. 237 – A Dental Event (Or Two) to Remember! with Matt Mulcock

“Why are you even doing this? What is this even for?…It can’t just be about the numbers on the screen. That’s an empty life.” ~Matt Mulcock

In this episode, Everyday Practices Dental Podcast co-hosts Regan Robertson and Dr. Chad Johnson are joined again by Matt Mulcock from Dentist Advisors as they talk about the challenges of balancing a demanding dental career with a meaningful personal life. The trio discuss the importance of intentional living, avoiding the pitfalls of hustle culture, and aligning financial goals with core values.

You will also get an exclusive sneak peek into the upcoming Dentist Money Summit, which is designed to blend financial wisdom with life enriching education. This summit features a stunning lineup of speakers, and promises to be a transformative experience for dentists and their families. 

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• Am I currently giving enough time and attention to my personal life, or does my professional existence take precedence?
• What are my core values and do they align with my financial goals?
• Am I caught up in the hustle of daily life, or am I optimizing my life for true fulfillment?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan Robertson 0:00
Doctor the difference between a $1 million practice and the $3 million. One isn’t how many ops you have, where you’re located, or even how many hours you work. The difference comes through clarity, alignment, and refinement. As Dr. Bruce Baird PDA’s co-founder says, “There is no silver bullet to get you that dream practice. It’s a million little things we do every day that gets you the success you deserve.” That is why we have invited Matt Wilcox, CEO of Dentist Advisors for a multi-episode podcast extravaganza to share with you how to live a rich life. You can see Matt and Productive Dentist Academy CEO, Victoria Peterson, at the upcoming dentist money summit this June 21 to the 22nd in Park City, Utah and as an everyday practices dental podcast listener, you get a whopping 25% off admission when you use the code PDA 25 at checkout that is PDA 25. Let’s jump in.

Welcome to the Everyday Practices Podcast. I’m Regan Robertson, and my co-host, Dr. Chad Johnson, and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results using practical proven methods you can take right into your own dental practice. If you’re ready to elevate patient care and produce results that are anything but ordinary, buckle up and listen in. Welcome to Everyday Practices Dental podcast, I am your host, Regan Robertson rockin a little bit of a cold. No problem here, though, joined by Dr. Chad Johnson, my esteemed co-host. You know, at a certain point, I’ve seen a lot of marriages in particular struggle and it’s sad to me because it’s when you have this huge travel schedule, and you’re working all the time, and you’re trying to be everything to everyone and it’s just impossible at times and I know for myself, personally, my travel schedule this year in particular has been more intense than normal. So I have become hyper-focused on being intentional in the moment and making sure that I balance it. So I have almost a little check if I do something for work and my balancing out on my home life as well and so this actually sounds like an event where if I was a dentist, I could go to it and I could also maybe bring my family and they would have a lot of stuff to do. So I could see them in the evening or I could extend my stay out a little bit longer and still have a lot of fun stuff to do.

Matt Mulcock 2:25
Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re going for Regan, and I appreciate you saying that. We talked about this a lot because in our space been Financial Planning and Investment Management, it’s really easy to get into the hustle culture, or you talk about like the optimization of life, like you’re optimizing your returns, you’re optimizing your cash flow, these are all great things. We all want these things and we focus a lot on these things. When I say like the spreadsheet answers, we need to be focusing on those things but we also want to take some time and we encourage our clients all the time to take a step back and answer the question, “Why are you even doing this? What is this even for?” And so that’s really what this hopefully is, the essence of this whole event is meant to kind of encompass that like answer the question, “Why is money even important to you? What are you actually doing this for? What are your core values behind all this?” Because it can’t just be about the numbers on the screen. That’s an empty life.

Dr. Chad Johnson 3:17
I know that Matt’s not just giving lip service to this either because after I registered, I got an email in the last month saying, “Hey, send us a few pictures of your family living the rich life,” and it was kind of a weird question in one sense, because I think not all dentists want to embrace the mentality of what does richness or fullness, what does that look like and I think the cool thing is that would make people reevaluate, it’s like, are you going to go into your closet and take a picture of your safe or are you going to take a picture of you on the beach with your loved ones? Are you going to take a picture of your daughter graduating from the College that you sent her to because you were able to pay for it? Stuff like that. So it was cool.

Regan Robertson 4:07
I live my life mission based and that’s exactly and this is a shout-out to Donald Miller. I have to plug him for this especially his “Hero on a Mission” book that

Dr. Chad Johnson 4:17
Especially if he were to join us for a podcast at some point

Matt Mulcock 4:20
Shout out Donald, get out here

Regan Robertson 4:24
Well, my it started with with my dad who my dad told me when I was you know, looking at different career options and he said, “Just do what you love and the money will follow.” He’s always said that Bruce and Victoria are huge proponents of that also. So the inner you’re talking energetic. Matt, you’re talking when you’re asking what’s the rich life and what how does this present to you, Chad when you said picturing your children graduating from a particular school. That is exactly how I think of everything and when I talked to Victoria that is that I want to be able to give to my children without them worrying whatever they choose. Education to me is such power and being passionate and following and having the space to do that. So I never ever think about, am I in a right pay band, I never focus on the numbers, I focus on the life that I want and then it feels like by taking certain steps, it just naturally aligns that way. Those two have to be methodical about it and you do have to put in some structure, you can’t just have the wish you have to put the business plan behind it.

Matt Mulcock 5:19
Yeah, I love that. Regan, we talked about this a lot around and we were kind of joking earlier about people making comments, I think about both of our levels of work of like, don’t you just help people get rich and that kind of thing. I think what you’re describing is something again, we talked about a lot, which is the direction matters, meaning I’m there’s a difference between saying, “I’m pursuing getting rich,” versus getting rich ensues, from what I’m focused on, in like my daily life, like being rich, or money could be an output, for sure, could be a result. But there’s a huge difference in saying that’s something I’m pursuing, in our opinion, it’s like what you’re saying, pursue the rich life, pursue what you actually want, and create an image of what that looks like for you create a day, like what is my day in the life of a rich life look like and what that means. I think it’s very different than saying like, I need $10 million to retire. Sure that to me is never going to work. It’s not going to lead to a life of fulfillment.

Regan Robertson 6:16
Okay, I don’t think that’s going to work. However, I will shout out to I think it’s called elements. It was an app that you guys made. Resharper introduced it to me like what your net value is, and then what you will need. So what you will need to have the lifestyle that you deserve. So it’s really that combination of aspirational pursuit. And then you do have to put some data with it. So when I met with our financial advisor, because of all of my dentist, advisors, knowledge and education over the years, I was able to go to him and say, “Okay, here’s what I want. Here’s what I’m thinking,” and he even took us deeper with questions. “Well, what kind of vacations do you want to take? How many times do you want to vacation a year? This is all you all you 100%?” So yeah, and then he said, “You know, at the end, we got down to the number, this is what you’re going to have to have at that time, based on everything that we know.”

Matt Mulcock 7:05
Sounds like a good advisor, because I know there’s tons out there but even the questions that you just highlighted that he’s asking you, that’s what an advisor should be asking you. Because we see the opposite. People who come to us who’ve worked with advisors for 10, 15, just recently, 20 years, and the advisor not asking any of those questions. They come to us, and they think they’re fine, because the advisor just did the surface-level stuff and then I have to sit there and be like, “You’re not fine,” because they weren’t actually digging into the actual numbers. Like you just said it right? And what kind of vacations do you want? There’s a big difference in saying I want to go camping couple times this summer versus I want to go to Greece. Yeah. You know, like, there’s a huge difference there and you have to dive into those things and I love what you said, right and you’re totally right. You have to marry the two together. We think the numbers and all that kind of stuff. We’re talking about a spreadsheet stuff, that’s table stakes, you should have that what we think gets lost in a lot of this is the other side of this the qualitative side that we try to emphasize a lot with people.

Regan Robertson 8:10
I mean, the speaker lineup is incredible. Any speakers you want to call out or anything like that?

Matt Mulcock 8:14
Yeah, definitely. So we’ve been very adamant about the theme and going along with this theme now every single person so take like Kira dent doctrine actually hold as parent sports as we have so many speakers that bring their different angle and their different expertise is another one Dr. Daniel Crosby. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Dr. Daniel Crosby. We were talking books earlier. If you want some good money books, check out Daniel Crosby. He has a book called The Laws of Wealth. It’s one of the best books definitely one of the best money books, I think one of the best books I’ve ever read and he’s coming. He’s a PhD, behavioral psychologist, turn financial advisor. He is incredible. He’s going to talk a lot about our minds how they work against us kind of within this theme around investing and living a rich life. So everyone kind of is following a similar theme, but bringing their own kind of flavor to it.

Regan Robertson 9:04
I want to call this out big time because it sounds to me like you’ve definitely been to your fair share of productivity workshops because of the theme and how it all zips together. cohesion in education is critical and I have been to enough dentist events and small business events where you’ve got conflicting philosophies, I’ll go up and I will hear an incredible speaker and I will get really, really excited about how this person lays out different frameworks that you can apply to your business. The next speaker comes up, also an incredible speaker, but you can see almost immediately that the philosophies are going to fight. They’re going to clash together and it leaves me feeling the same way about the experience. I feel excited, but they don’t know what direction I should go. So that’s something in event planning that I don’t think is talked about often but making sure that people are clear about the mission of the event and then understanding how they fit into that. I don’t think it’s micromanaging. I think you’re giving them a heck of a lot of freedom and also you’re calling out the alignment.

Matt Mulcock 10:02
Yes, exactly and this is something you just mentioned, that we had been honestly, inspired by the PDA events because you guys do this extremely well. No one leaves confused by conflicting messages. It’s very, very well done. Obviously, you guys have been doing it for, oh, coming up on 20 years and decades. So yeah, I totally agree Regan, and this is our first crack at it. So we know there’s gonna be things we’re going to learn along the way but we’re extremely excited about it.

Regan Robertson 10:32
Do you still have seats available or are you sold out?

Dr. Chad Johnson 10:35
No, not sold out. We do have some seats available. Right now we’re nearing the close to 200 mark. So it’s getting up there but we definitely have seats available for sure. If you check it out at dentistmoneysummit.com.

Dr. Chad Johnson 10:46
I guarantee it’ll be just like PDA where half of the fun is talking outside of class time with other dentists that are focused on the right things.

Matt Mulcock 10:58
I love that you said that Chad because I think anyone who comes to something like this understanding what it is understanding the theme, you’re gonna have like mine, it’s the same thing with events, right? You get just a bunch of like-minded people, it’s a very similar vibe and how they want to approach life and money and so I totally agree with that the dinners after the drinks after like the learning you’ll do after and the connections you’ll make, I think, is going to be probably the most underrated part of this whole thing.

Regan Robertson 11:26
It’s gonna be a high vibrant, high frequency event. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. So what was the website again?

Matt Mulcock 11:32
dentistmoneysummit.com.

Regan Robertson 11:35
dentistmoneysummit.com. Park City, Utah. Is it $1,000 tuition?

Matt Mulcock 11:40
It is, but we have a code a discount code for all PDA members. Yes. So I will double-check this and make sure I get it to you. So you can post it.

Regan Robertson 11:49
We will include it in the email blasts. We’ll include it anywhere you subscribe to our podcast. Sure, absolutely. Yeah,

Dr. Chad Johnson 11:55
Yeahh if they mentioned iron cowboy, they get a free high five from the event.

Matt Mulcock 12:00
I’d be remiss if we didn’t at least do a quick plug for James Lawrence’s Iron Cowboy,

Dr. Chad Johnson 12:05
Which you have to YouTube if you’ve not seen a major into triathlons.

Regan Robertson 12:08
Was he on American Ninja? Was he on the Ninja Show? No, no. So

Matt Mulcock 12:12
he’s so iron cowboy. Like that is such small potatoes. So he’ll tell his story that he’s unbelievable. Just because he’s one of those guys that just made me feel so inadequate and all aspects of why he decided as he got into the Iron Man’s and he tells us whole story. We actually did a podcast with him a couple months ago promoting the event and talking about his story but long story short, he gets into Ironmans and then decides, “You know what, I’m going to take this to another level. And I’m going to go ahead and try to break the record. He starts off with half Iron Man’s and then he breaks the record for most half Ironman is done in a year. He does like 36. And then he’s like, “You know what, not good enough. I’m gonna go do 50 Iron Man’s in 50 different states and 50 straight days, right?” And so and he there’s a whole documentary, he writes a book about it. And then during COVID He decides you know what, I’m going to take it even further. I’m going to do 100 Iron Man’s in 100 straight days. He’s just next level 100

Regan Robertson 13:06
Iron Man’s in 100 straight days. So no, no rest days.

Matt Mulcock 13:11
No, no,

Dr. Chad Johnson 13:13
You rest when it’s over.

Regan Robertson 13:14
You mentioned this interview. Podcast. What’s the name of your podcast, sir?

Matt Mulcock 13:20
So our podcast is the Dentist Money Show. You can go look on our website, dentistadvisors.com. Look up James Lawrence. You’ll find the interview but yeah, so Dentist Money Show we’ve been doing for eight years now.

Regan Robertson 13:31
I’m gonna go listen to it right away, because I want to know what long lasting health effects happen from doing that for 100 days and one question that negatively impacted him. I mean, that’s just really when you push your body that hard. Yeah, that’s a compelling story. This is going to be an amazing event. Wow, for your first one to come out of the gate like this. I know you’re here punch in strong man.

Matt Mulcock 13:51
I wish I could take any credit for that. Our team Spencer Chipping, who’s running the whole thing. I gave him full control over all of it. He’s done an incredible job, our team, literally the amount of work that you guys know this right and you know this better than anyone. The amount of work that goes into putting an event like this together is unbelievable. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Our team is has been amazing. So we’re excited. The only problem that I have with the whole thing, speaking of James Lawrence, is that I’m speaking after him and there could not be a greater letdown in the history of mankind than going from James Lawrence. I’m just saying. That’s gonna be a lot of pressure. I’m gonna have to work out.

Dr. Chad Johnson 14:29
I’ll tell you your shoulder muscles are impressive. You got good looking upper traps that

Matt Mulcock 14:34
Oh my gosh. I mean, I’m going to do some extra push ups that morning. We’re excited. We appreciate you guys letting us talk about it. And hopefully everyone can come. I’m gonna be there. I can’t wait. Yeah, Chad’s gonna be there. Regan is coming. Christine is coming.

Regan Robertson 14:47
And Christina is coming. I believe. Yeah, Victoria will be there but how could we not and I’ll tell you what Bruce Baird told me when I very first started speaking they would put me on stage for five minutes at a time. And I was so nervous and he said just Ultimate, you know, it’s not about being the most charismatic and it’s definitely not about having completed 100 Iron Man’s in 100 days it will be compelling but Matt, you’re brilliant in your own right. Oh my gosh, thank you. So just tell them what you know, you don’t have to be anything other than yourself. You’ll be great.

Matt Mulcock 15:15
Thank you so much. I didn’t know this was gonna be like a pep talk therapy session for me but I needed that he’s gotten me I knew that as we get closer to 30 days out, “I’m like, I need this guy’s because I know the speaker lineup,” and I’m like, “Oh, it’s gonna be tough to fit in with them but now I’m excited. It’ll be a good time.”

Regan Robertson 15:30
It’s gonna be great. So are you joining us then also in September? I know Dentist advisors at Owl will be

Matt Mulcock 15:36
Oh, yes, I will definitely be there in September. I think the last like six we’ve gone to or so I think I’ve been to five of them. So I try not to miss PDA.

Regan Robertson 15:45
Well, I know Dentist Advisors. We’ve done several curriculums almost every time if not every time, but the curriculum is so well rewarded as well rated. It’s good deep knowledge. Again, it fits the philosophy of productivity. So it’s just a natural marriage between the two. I get giddy every time I see Dentist Advisors because your crews always so fun and uplifting, and it’s just the vibe is right. The frequency. It’s just really exciting and this being the 20th anniversary, it’s going to be spectacular. I guess we stayed with the athletic theme since we’ll have Emmitt Smith.

Matt Mulcock 16:16
I was just gonna say yeah, yeah, I mean, Smith. Come on. That’s amazing.

Regan Robertson 16:19
Yeah, I think it’s gonna be really inspiring. It’s so much about the mindset and maybe that’s why business events often lean towards athletics. I’m not sure if it’s for the razzle dazzle effect of it. I’m not that into athletics, but I am into the discipline and the mindset takes

Dr. Chad Johnson 16:35
High performance. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock 16:36
Yeah, I think it’s the same kind of principles that go into being an incredible athlete. That would be to be an incredible dentist or incredible business owner. Yes. I think there’s the same principles for sure. I have a best friend I’ve had for literally 30 years. I met him when I was six years old. He’s a huge Cowboys fan. Which is ironic because I’m a massive Eagles fan. So we kind of rival Smith there. By the way, please don’t I hope he’s not listening to this but I do want to meet him. I’m gonna go read before he did, you know, read out? The cheerleaders are already really Yeah, that’s what I told my friend this. And he’s like, “Okay, so I can come.” He has nothing to do with dentistry. He’s like, “I’m gonna show up. I’m just gonna come.” I was like, “Okay. Yeah, I’m like, sure. Let’s get maybe I’ll bring him with a DA team.”

Regan Robertson 17:22
You know of non-dentists that are aiming to come or asking to him or are confirmed to come is too large for Emmitt Smith.

Matt Mulcock 17:29
Yeah, I bet I can only imagine how many people you expecting here. I’m not gonna

Regan Robertson 17:32
let a number audit. But I think it’s going to be an incredible party and I think it’s going to be a great celebration, not not of PDA tooting its horn, we’re gonna have so many PDA hall of famers and people who have done the pursuit, as you said, Matt, and have achieved it. Yeah and to have the opportunity of that much success in one room, not just the people like it’s not a focus on them. It’s about helping other people. So to have that concentration of people who have followed the principles of productivity, and embodied it and are now living it to be there, I would buy a ticket immediately because you’re going to be around so much advice and the number one word that PDA is described in the market is supportive.

Matt Mulcock 18:16
I totally can see that. I could not echo that anymore. Being to several PDA events over the last three or four years supportive is the perfect word collaborative, energetic, Chad, you know this, we had our camera out filming some things during the interviews and stuff, but just the energy around PDA is always incredible. It is honestly our favorite event we go into every year. This is why I’d never miss it.

Regan Robertson 18:37
It’s gonna be a blast and Chad. I’m glad you’ll be joining us.

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:41
I will be there. He missed

Regan Robertson 18:44
One man in the last eight years.

Dr. Chad Johnson
Yeah, I missed one.

Matt Mulcock 18:48
And I never let him hear the end of it.

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:50
Right. Yeah, as well, because it will be the last one in a long time that all

Regan Robertson 18:56
Yeah. Well, thanks for sitting down and telling us about your inaugural event which is already a success and I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud of your growth and dentists, advisors growth and just a you being in the market and doing this for dentists. It’s incredible what you’re doing out there and can’t wait to see you in Park City and in Frisco.

Matt Mulcock 19:16
Yes, I can’t wait for both feeling’s mutual. We’d love that collaboration we do with PDA and with both of you and again, one of many to come hopefully, so excited. Yep.

Dr. Chad Johnson 19:26
Thanks, Matt, for joining us. Thanks, listeners for listening and hopefully that brought a lot of value to you do go to dentistsadvisors.com and find the Dentists Money Summit for 2024. Or one more time the website for this event,

Matt Mulcock 19:39
dentistsmoneysummit.com

Dr. Chad Johnson 19:40
Boom. Go check it out.

Regan Robertson 19:45
Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices podcast. Chad and I are here every week. Thanks to our community of listeners just like you and we’d love your help. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentists Post and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more awesome? Drop us an email at podcast@productivedentist.com and don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentist.com/podcasts See you next week.